The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) condemns the brutal police action on All India Plantation Workers Federation (AIPWF) General Secretary and CITU National Working Committee Member Comrade Ziaul Alam who was arrested in a heinous way on 16^th August 2023 night, at Jalpaiguri, West Bengal.

In a nefariously conspired move, the Trinamool Congress goons attacked our Trade Union and other fraternal Mass Organisation offices at Jalpaiguri on 16^th August 2023 evening. They planned to vandalise and loot our offices which were valiantly resisted by our trade union comrades along with students and youths. Many of our comrades were brutally attacked and injured, many are hospitalized.

Instead of arresting the culprits, the TMC led police force came heavily upon our comrades, manhandled and arrested 5 of our activists along with Comrade Ziaul Alam.

CITU condemns the notorious police action of West Bengal administration, which has mutilated all democratic scope and constitutional rights of people of Bengal. CITU demands that the West Bengal Police Administration should immediately release the leaders unconditionally and arrest the TMC Hooligans behind this barbarous act.

CITU calls upon all its constituents and fraternal federations to rise in rage and register their protest at every level against the barbarous attack on trade union leaders and democratic forces of West Bengal.

Release AIPWF General Secretary Ziaul Alam
Release our Leaders
Arrest TMC Hooligans
Stop brutal Police Raj and Restore Democracy in West Bengal

Issued by
(Tapan Sen)
General Secretary

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), a class oriented Trade Union Confederation and an affiliate of WFTU, representing more than 7 million Workers, extends international working class solidarity to the CGTP, another WFTU affiliate Trade Union Confederation of Peru which is spearheading their struggle demanding immediate reinstatement of former left leaning President Pedro Castillo and his pro people government.

Pedro Castillo, former President of Peru was ousted by a ‘soft coup’ instituted against him by the rightwing congressmen in Peruvian Parliament; the removal of Pedro Castillo was a sinister ploy of the rightwing pro-imperialist forces in the congress to advance the imperialist interests of US. The CGTP in their nationwide campaign and struggle is mobilizing to rally all the trade unions united to unleash a joint struggle against the US imperialist interventions in Peruvian polity and policy making. Strikingly, soon after the removal of Castillo, US started to send its naval ships to the ports of Peru.

The CGTP correctly believes that the first step would be the defunding and dismissing of notorious US project ‘National Endowment of Democracy’, which functions only to facilitate the strategic geo political interests of US. The NED has a significant amount of money to persuade opportunist’s yellow trade unions to support their imperialist aims.

CITU fully supports the struggles and campaign drive of CGTP to safeguard the sovereignty of their country as well as rights of the working class. CITU demands upon the current Peruvian government to stop indulging in US interests that would only jeopardize the geo political formations and interests of Latin America. While extending solidarity to the CGTP, CITU also calls upon its affiliates and members and also the fraternity of WFTU within the country and abroad to organize solidarity actions.

Issued By
Swadesh DevRoye
National Secretary & Head of International Affairs  

Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) pays respectful homage to the legendary plantation leader Comrade Panu Majumdar who will be remembered long for his contribution towards the working class movement and the people of Tripura. Comrade Panu Majumdar passed away 14th August 2023 midnight at GBP Hospital of Tripura leaving behind his innumerable followers throughout the State. He was 86 at the time of demise.

Comrade Sudhamoy Majumder popularly known as Comrade Panu Majumdar worked among and organised the tea garden workers since 1970. He was a key organiser of Tripura State CITU right from its formation period. He devoted his life to the cause of emancipation of the working class. He was unmarried and spent his entire life with the tea workers.

While organising tea workers in struggle for rights and better livelihoods, he faced numerous challenges. Especially the threat of lock-out and closure always used to haunt the workers. In such an event, the criminal proprietor of the Durgabari Tea Garden turned the garden sick and left it with hundreds of workers to die in a critical condition. Comrade Panu Majumdar brought all the workers of that garden together, gave them guidance and hope and developed it as a cooperative tea garden. With his indomitable spirit, knowledge, hard work, comradely feelings and strong leadership with participatory model, Durgabari was converted as an International Model Cooperative Tea Garden and a sustainably high yielding and profitable one. The cooperative is still now running with excellence and the workers are getting significantly more returns out of it.

Comrade Panu Majumder was a member of All India Plantation Workers Federation. For a long time, he was a member of CITU All India General Council and the Vice President of Tripura CITU State Committee.

Comrade Panu Majumdar had an extraordinary quality to explain intricate things in a simple way. His endeavor and sacrifice gave an alternative to Durgabari and it will remain as a beacon in the history of workers’ participatory cooperative movement in India.

Long Live Comrade Panu Majumdar. Long Live Durgabari.

Issued by
Tapan Sen
General Secretary

 

Hundreds of workers, peasants and agricultural workers throughout the country came out on streets in solidarity with the people of Manipur at the call of Centre of Indian Trade Unions(CITU), All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and All India Agricultural Workers Union  (AIAWU). The joint call was given by CITU, AIKS and AIAWU on 15 July 2023, in solidarity with the people of Manipur demanding restoration of peace, disarmament of the people, facilities in the relief camps, and compensation to the damage to the properties of the people.

Later, the shocking videos of the brutal sexual violence against two Kuki women came in public shaking the conscience of the nation. In many places of the country, the workers, peasants and agricultural workers, women and people in general came out in protest against the sexual violence and rape of the women. Many of our units protested the criminal inaction by the BJP led state and central governments on Manipur issue and the selected silence of the Prime Minister of the country.

On 25 July, solidarity and protest actions were organised in most of the states at state and district headquarters, factory gates, workplaces and villages. Although the call was given by CITU, AIKS and AIAWU, in many states the central and state trade unions joined the programme. In Delhi state joint platform of trade unions organised a protest at Jantar Mantar along with AIKS and AIAWU. Leaders of all trade Unions including INTUC, AITUC, HMS, AIUTUC, TUCC, AICCTU, SEWA, LPF, MEC, ICTU spoke. A R Sindhu, Anurag Saxena, Virender Gaur, Gangeshwar Dutt Sharma(CITU), P Krishnaprasad, P Tyagi (AIKS) , V Sivadsan MP, Vikram Singh (AIAWU) addressed the gathering. A large number of farmers who are in a sit in protest in Greater Noida on their demands also joined the programme.

In almost all the states, the state government employees also joined the programme. A huge rally was held in Mizoram by the joint NGO coordination committee.

Left Class and mass organisations organised organised a march at the gate of Maniur Assembly today. Rally was addressed by AIKS leader Sarat Salam and CITU leader Kshetrimayum Santa. Around 300 people participated. They demanded restoration of peace and facilities in relief camps.

Programmes were held in AP, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, HP, Jharrkhand, J&K, Karnataka, Kerala, MP, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajastahn, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, UP, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. In many places the people bunt the effigies of the central and state governments.

The protesters expressed their anger by the insensitive and sectarian reaction of the Prime Minister and other ministers and BJP leaders in such an hour of crisis of Manipuri people and their unity and the kind of barbarity and violence against women. Instead of rising to the occasion and call for unity, the BJP leaders including the Prime Minister is on blame game on timings of exposure etc which is condemnable. The protesters warned the people to be prepared to protect the unity among various sections, as the BJP- RSS combine will resort to such divisive and disastrous moves anywhere and everywhere to retain and capture political power, with the help of their corporate masters.

The response by the working class, agricultural workers and the peasantry and the people in general to the call for solidarity has once again proven that the unity of the basic classes and the people only can fight the communal and divisive forces and bring peace and amity in Manipur as well as other parts of the country.   

 Issued by         

Tapan Sen                                  Vijoo Krishnan                                  B Venkat

General Secretary                     General Secretary                             General Secretary

   CITU                                         AIKS                                                   AIAWU

 

The Construction Workers Federation of India (CWFI) deeply mourns and expresses its condolences to the bereaved families of 17 construction workers who were killed after a girder machine collapsed on them during the third phase of construction on the Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra’s Thane district in the wee hours of August 1, 2023. The workers who died were mostly migrant workers.

The tragic incident once again exposed the disastrous consequence of handing over the public infrastructure management, both at state and the centre, to private corporate contractor that too on liberal deregulated formats from the state-run public works departments with devastating implications of mass human loss. A Swiss company was given the outsourcing contract by Maharashtra State road Development Corporation.  It is also to be noted that, so far as many as 88 people have lost their lives in road accidents in last six months on the Samruddhi Expressway.

While mourning and condoling the tragic loss of lives, CWFI also demands a thorough high level judicial probe into the whole matter to investigate that dreadful incident and fixing accountability. Only arresting a few contract company’s officials would merely cover up the inhuman negligence and callousness of the government of the day. CWFI demands upon the Governments at Centre and state for adequate compensations and jobs to families of the diseased. CWFI once again reiterates its demand to stop privatisation in the name of contract for building, repair and maintenance and operation of public infrastructure. CWFI also demands public investments and state intervention in strengthening the public works departments.

Issued By,
P JOSEPH,
GENERAL SECRETARY

Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) pays respectful homage to Comrade Shivshankar Singh, veteran trade union leader from Bihar who passed away on 25^th June 2023 after prolonged illness. He was 94.

After studies, Comrade Shivshankar Singh joined the government service in Bihar and joined the state government employees’ movement. He was one of the prominent leaders of the Non-Gazatted Employees Federation, Bihar. After retirement he dedicated his life organising the Beedi workers at his native place, Jamui. He was instrumental in building a very strong union of Beedi workers in Bihar of which he served as the General Secretary for a long period. He was also one of the office bearers of All India Beedi Workers’ Federation (CITU). Presently he was the Vice President of Bihar state committee of CITU.

 CITU expresses profound grief at his demise and conveys condolences to his family and comrades.

Issued by
Tapan Sen
General Secretary

CITU is extremely grieved at the passing away of Comrade P Lalaji Babu, former General Secretary and then President of All India Plantation Workers’ Federation, at Kerala on 24^th May 2022 morning. He was 75 years old.

Comrade Lalaji Babu was born in 1948 in Chengannur and spent his most vibrant period of life in Kollam. He was a valiant leader of plantation workers’ struggle for last four decades. He was an elected member of CITU Working Committee. During the Emergency period, he spent six months in jail. He performed with dignity as a Member of Rubber Board, Member of Board of Oil Palm India Limited, President of Pathanapuram Taluk Agricultural Rural Development Bank, President of Co-operative Bank and many more important institutions and always has fought to protect the interest of working class and the people.

He was elected as the President of All India Plantation Workers’ Federation in the Conference held at Agartala Tripura in 2013 and was relieved from the said responsibility in the Darjeeling Conference of AIPWF in the month of December 2022 for his serious illness.  While returning back from the Working Committee meeting of the Federation held at Delhi in 2022, he had a massive heart attack and couldn’t recover totally since then.

CITU mourns the death of Comrade P Lalaji Babu, conveys its heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family members and comrades and submits homage of respect to his memory and signal contributions to the cause of Plantation Workers. Red Salute, Comrade P Lalaji Babu.  

(Tapan Sen)
General Secretary

About a lakh of workers, peasants and agricultural workers crowded the Ramlila Grounds in Delhi today to participate in the Mazdoor-Kisan Sangharsh Rally called by (CITU) Centre of Indian Trade Unions, (AIKS) All India Kisan Sabha and (AIAWU) All India Agriculture Workers Union. Arriving from different States of the country, came to voice their demand for an end to the ongoing assault on their means of livelihood and for policies that allow access to education, healthcare and a dignified life for them and their children. The united action of the workers and peasants expressed determined protest against the hatred and anger against the BJP government in destroying the wealth of the nation and to distract attention from the grave economic crisis engulfing the lives of the working people. Enthused by the success of the yearlong farmers' struggle and of the many recent victories against anti-people policies, people had made their way to Delhi from far and wide: Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP, Himachal Pradesh, J & K, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Odissa, Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat. A six-month-long campaign in urban and rural districts of the country to mobilise people culminated in this massive assembly. Thousands of women workers and peasants were also part of the protest. The massive rally was addressed by the leaders of the three organisations, K. Hemalata & Tapan Sen (President & General Secretary, CITU), Ashok Dhawale & Vijoo Krishnan (President & General Secretary, AIKS), A. Vijayaraghavan & B. Venkat (President & General Secretary, AIAWU). Leaders of 12 sectoral federations affiliated to CITU, organisations of employees of state and central governments, bank, insurance and BSNL, AISGEF, CCGEU also addressed the rally. They warned the government that the rally was an indication of the surging anger of the working people of this country against the disregard of their basic needs while showering benefits on the big corporate. The deliberate destruction of the wealth, selling large public sector establishments developed over decades at throwaway prices to private owners, depriving workers and peasants of their basic rights, inviting foreign capital to capture Indian agriculture and dairy sectors, indulging corrupt money swindlers in looting peoples’ hard-earned money, all this is being increasingly promoted by the present Govt. It is against such dangers and to save the country from capture by a few wealthy business cartels that workers and peasants have joined hands to launch an incessant and intensified movement throughout the country. The Rally was organised by a joint preparatory committee chaired by eminent Economist Prabhat Patnaik. A.R. Sindhu Convener, Joint Preparatory Committee

 ‘Legally guaranteed minimum support price at C2+50%’ as recommended by the M S Swaminathan chaired National Commission for Farmers has become a household demand of the peasantry across the country today-thanks to the prolonged and massive united struggles of the peasantry during the last two and a half decades especially in the context of unending indebtedness and peasant suicide. Thus, the united peasant movement has succeeded to bring the agrarian question at all India level.  No political party can ignore the agrarian crisis now without facing the brunt of peasant anger.

In the neo-liberal period of reforms, on the one side, the cost of agricultural production is sky rocketing with unbridled rise in the price of all inputs including seed, fertilizer, electricity, diesel, water, transportation and land rent. On the other side, the price of agricultural produces across the crops in general does not meet the cost of production; thus making farming a loss-making occupation. This along with inflation and escalating cost of living are the reason for the current acute agrarian crisis and the pauperization of the peasantry.

The peasant households - especially the small and middle peasants and the agricultural workers - are pushed to perpetual indebtedness and also to suicide across the country. Thus losing cattle and agricultural land, they are forced to join the rank of migrant workers whose number is swelling day by day. As per the latest data, the population of the migrant workers has crossed 23 crore- has become the single largest size section in India due to the acute agrarian crisis. This phenomenon shall be conceived in the perspective of pauperization of the peasantry under capitalism that is explained well by Marx and Engels in Communist Manifesto. The pauperization has become an issue of life and death for the peasantry, across India.

The genesis of the agrarian crisis can be traced back to the colonial period, with the "ascendancy of imperialism". The big bourgeois and big landlord classes that collaborated with imperialism had emerged as the ruling class of India. This ruling class alliance failed to carry forward agrarian reforms in a meaningful way. With the collapse of the dirigisme regime and introduction of neoliberal policies, the clout of the International Finance Capital (IFC) became hegemonic and domestic Monopoly Capital (MC) are increasingly getting integrated with it. The IFC-MC combine has unleashed a virulent primitive accumulation in agriculture.

Even after 75^th years of political independence, still the land concentration does exist in different degrees across the country. As per the 5^th National Family Health Surveys (NFHS), in 2019-21, the households with more than 30 hectares of land -only 0.3% of rural households- accounted for over 26% of land.  The top 20% households owned 82% of the agricultural land while the bottom 47.8%of rural households did not own any agricultural land. The land concentration as well as the landlessness are increasing in the context of the neo-liberal reforms and reverse land reforms – the small and middle land owners losing land and the rich and capitalist classes accrue more land- is happening in the countryside. Along with that, the acquisition of land for large industrial, commercial and infrastructure projects also force increasing landlessness among the small and middle landholders.

The denial of remunerative prices to the peasantry serves the interests of the finance capital, the large trader and industrial classes and their intermediaries especially in the agro based industrial and trade sectors. The corporate forces are destined to procure agricultural produce at the cheapest available rate as the raw material for industrial processing and related commercial food and consumer commodity trade. This is the major contradiction between the peasantry and the corporate forces under capitalism.

Studies conducted across the world reveal that only 10% or below of the value of the consumer commodities produced using the primary farm produces reach back to the primary producers through the procurement price. The surplus thus created is shared among the international finance capital, large-scale processors, their intermediaries, transporters, retail traders and also as tax to the governments and as advertisement income to the corporate media houses. Hence the enemy classes of the peasantry that constitutes the network for expropriation of the surplus have common interest in denying the remunerative price to the peasantry.

Let us consider few case studies. The coffee is the second most profitable commodity traded in the global market after crude oil. As part of the neo-liberal reforms introduced in India in 1991, the Coffee Board left the procurement market in 1997, thus opening the door wide to the private traders including multinational companies. The average price in the procurement operation under the coffee board was Rs. 60/ kg for green beans. This price increased to the range of Rs.90- 120/kg when the private companies entered the market thus making the coffee farmers happy as they thought the neo-liberal reforms brought them prosperity. However, within two years, by 1999, the price of one kilogram coffee green beans started declining drastically and stagnated at Rs. 24/kg which remained so till 2007. The annual loss suffered by coffee farmers in the district Wayanad- in the coffee belt region alone was of around Rs.600 crore.

The coffee farmers faced severe miseries and got trapped in insurmountable debts, which ignited a spate of peasant suicides in Wayanad – more than 3000- in the period of 1999-2007. On the other side the coffee crisis became a boon to the corporate forces. When the price of green bean coffee crashed to Rs 24/kg, the price of instant coffee powder increased to the range of Rs. 900-1400/kg comparing to the equivalent price of Rs.450-900/kg in 1997-99 period. Thus, the coffee crisis was an opportunity for windfall gain and profiteering for the corporate forces. The reason is the IFC-MC combine wields monopoly ownership on the value addition sectors- the processing industry and the branded consumer market-of specialty coffee across the world. The coffee farmers have no option but to sell their produce to the industrial processors through their intermediaries at the price decided by the market that is controlled by the IFC-MC combine. 

The IFC-MC combine influences the price of the raw material in each and every sector.Let us consider the plight of paddy farmers. The Union Government led by NDA has not agreed to provide MSP as recommended by the National Framers Commission headed by M S Swaminathan at C2+50% formula. Moreover, the MSP of Rs.2040 per quintal for the year 2022-23 as announced by the Government is not ensured to all the paddy farmers across the country since there is no system for procurement. For example, the farmers in the Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, eastern part of Uttar Pradesh are forced to sell their paddy at the range of Rs. 800- 1200 per quintal. Considering an average production of only 12 quintals per acre the total loss is to the tune of Rs.9600-14400 per acre. The LDF Government in Kerala has been providing the highest rate for paddy procurement in India at Rs.2820 per quintal. Comparing to the rate of Kerala the loss accrued by the farmers in Jharkhand-Bihar-West Bengal- Easter UP region is in the tune of Rs.19200 – 24000 per acre. When the farmers are paid Rs.8-12 per kg for paddy, the rice is sold in the open market in the range of Rs.28 to 60 per kg as per the grading and quality- shows how the paddy farmers are looted by the market forces.

The potato farmers are suffering very severe crisis and as part of protest, farmers have heaped potato on the roads in Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal. The price has come down to Rs.2-6 per kg for potato while in southern states, the whole sale commodity price is Rs. 32 per kg and the retail price is in the tune of Rs.38-42 per kg.  See the huge profit amassed by the capitalist classes. The onion farmers in Maharashtra gets Rs. 2 to Rs. 4 per kg while the commodity wholesale price of onion is Rs. 50 and retail price range from Rs.58 to Rs.64. Recently news agency PTI reported an onion framer from Maharashtra Solapur get Rs.2.49 as profit after selling 512 kg of onion.  On concrete analysis of each crop, we shall see, this is the same plight for all crops whether it is milk, wheat, sugar cane, coconut, rubber, tea, cotton or vegetables and fruits.

The IFC-MC combine and its cronies including Adani, Ambani and TATA control the agricultural produce trade,expropriate as well as influence the peasantry to shift to cash crop production and thus endanger the food security of the people. The steepreduction in the agriculture income along with unbridled inflation ruins the purchasing capacity of the toiling masses and pushes them towards poverty and starvation.  81.4 crore people - 67% of the population – depends on free ration in India and the country has fallen from 56^th rank in 2014 to 107^th rank in 2021 in the Global Poverty Index under the eight years of ModiRule indicates the degree of pauperisation of the people and expropriation by the corporate forces.

The BJP and RSS combine has capitulated the Indian economy for the profiteering of the finance capital and its cronies and facilitating brutal exploitation of the peasantry and the working class by denying them legally guaranteed minimum support price and minimum wage. The Modi Government stands for the Corporatisation of Agriculture and push the people towards utter poverty, price rise, unemployment, landlessness, pauperization and endless miseries. RSS-BJP combine which is fully surrendered to the International Finance Capital and monopoly capitalist forces are politically introducing this Corporatisation of Indian economy as making of “Hindu Rashtra” in order to promote hatred and divide the people on religious lines and facilitate further corporate expropriation of the peasantry and the working class. Only the worker-peasant alliance can fight this divisive politics and save democracy, federalism and secularism. For that we shall advance the struggle and up to the village / town level and rally the producing classes on the fight for attaining their right to live a life free from corporate exploitation.

It is possible to end the corporatisation of agriculture through alternative polices. Crop wise mobilization and advancing towards establishment of agro processing industries -for both inputs and outputs- and marketing facilities under the collective ownership of peasant social co-operatives are essential tasks ahead of the peasantry in this regard.The Union Government and the State Governments shall be enforced to promote the peasantry to develop crop wise producer cooperatives to gather collective strength and tactically   advance towards modernization of petty production in to large scale production without which the petty producers cannot sustain and overcome the corporate exploitation and the resultant pauperization, being intensified day by day.  This helps to take the advantage of scale of production by facilitating input supply, collective cultivation, procurement, storage and wear housing, processing, value addition, marketing and research and development and ultimately sharing of the surplus with the rationale of ensuring not below than 30% of the value of the consumer commodities as Fair Remunerative Price-FRP- to the primary producers. The Union Government and state governments shall make enactment for guaranteed MSP based on the principle of surplus sharing. Only with such Left and Democratic alternative policies we can overcome the acute agrarian crisis being intensified due to the neo-liberal reforms.

 This is the context that gives supreme political relevance to the combined combat by the worker-peasant alliance across the country and its epitome- the ever-largest Mazdoor-Kisan Sangharsh Rally in independent India scheduled on 5^th April 2023 at New Delhi. The first Mazdoor-Kisan Sangharsh Rally on 5^th September 2018 had encouraged the peasantry and the working class to come up and build extensive unity. The emergence of Samyukta Kisan Morcha and the active role of the joint platform of trade unions in support of the year long farmers struggle at the borders of Delhi forced the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to tender public apology and repeal the 3 pro-corporate Farm Acts.

Enough is enough. There cannot be any further expropriation of the peasantry. We shall proceed to build a new India that belongs to the people. The 5^th April 2023 Rally will declare enduring struggles to end the expropriation of the peasants and workers by the corporate forces, facilitate alternative development path for the toiling people and advance towards a new India free from agrarian distress, hunger, unemployment, inequality, violence, hatred, patriarchy and authoritarianism.

Legally Guaranteed MSP with Assured Procurement Is Our Right - We shall achieve that!

Come and Join Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally en masse!!